Getting started

Which tools and APIs are available?

The Twitter developer tools and endpoints are grouped into the following APIs, which you can read more about on our “Products overview” page. You can also visit our ”API reference index” page to see a full list of the endpoints available on the platform. 

How do I get started on the Twitter developer platform?

Different requirements across the platform

Across the platform, there are different levels of access and types of authentication required to start using  a given tool or endpoint. This section helps to describe what you need to successfully use our developer tools and APIs. 

How to get started with Twitter for websites

Since the Twitter for websites tools don’t require authentication or special access, you can get started by using the embed generator tool or reading our documentation. 
 

How to get started with the Twitter APIs

To get started using the Labs endpoints, standard APIs, premium APIs, enterprise APIs, or Ads APIs, you need to create a developer account and generate keys and tokens.

1. Apply and receive approval for a Twitter developer account.
2. Create a Twitter developer app.
3. Generate your app’s API keys and user’s access tokens.
4. Generate your app’s bearer token.
5. Apply and receive access to the desired API.
6. Find the documentation, libraries, code examples, and other resources that you need to make your first successful request.
   
   

Getting set up with the premium API

Once you have an approved developer account, you will be able to navigate to the premium “Dev environments” page. On this page, you can set up a dev environment with a Twitter developer app and get started using the free, sandbox tier of the product. If you need additional functionality or access, you can upgrade to a higher tier from the “Subscriptions” page. 

Getting access to the enterprise API

If you need more access than what the standard and premium APIs provide, please fill out our enterprise form to get in contact with an enterprise sales representative. 

Getting access to the Ads API

If you need access to the Ads API, please fill out our Ads API application form to get in contact with an ads sales representative. 
 

Important resources

Developer documentation

The Twitter developer website contains vast amounts of technical resources on developer.twitter.com. A good place to start is to review the core concepts that make up the Twitter APIs:

• Authentication
• Rate limits
• Response codes
  
  

Other useful pages and sections of the docs include the following: 

• The API reference index lists all endpoints available on the Twitter developer platform.
• The tutorial section covers a wide variety of topics built to help you accomplish different tasks with the Twitter developer platform.
• The frequently asked questions directory helps answer your questions about our endpoints.
• The data dictionary that describes our Tweet, user, and geo data objects.
  
  

Platform updates

Please make sure to bookmark the following pages, as they will provide you with important details on API outages, updates, and other news relevant to developers on the platform.

• Subscribe to our API status page to receive updates on outages.
• Review our developer roadmap to see what new features are coming out soon.
• Check out our changelog to see what we have changed on the platform recently.

All of these resources and more are listed on our “Stay informed” page.
 

Example code, libraries, and other tools

Once you’ve created a developer account and received the proper access for the endpoints that you need, making a request is simple. We suggest you check out the following tools to make it easier to integrate with Twitter APIs. 

TwitterDev Github

On the TwitterDev Github page, you can find a variety of different Twitter-supported snippets and clients that can help you integrate with the Ads API, get started with the Account Activity API, integrate the Search API into your system, and more. 
 

Twurl

Quickly make your first API request with an HTTP wrapper called twurl, a command-line application that can make authenticating your OAuth 1.0a requests easier. 
 

REST clients

REST clients such as Postman or Insomnia allow you to make requests to the Twitter REST APIs using  a well-designed visual interface. All you have to do is enter the endpoint’s HTTP method, URL, authentication, parameters, and JSON body to start making requests. 

We also have built out a Postman collection for the Twitter Developer Labs endpoints (which require a developer account and Labs access) that you can use to quickly import the Labs endpoint specifications into Postman. A Postman Collections is also available for the entire Ads API.